sound heart is the life of the flesh My son give me thy heart saith Solomon intimating that that was vertually a gift of the whole The soveraignty and principallity of the Heart above all the other members of the body might be abundantly confirmed from Scripture but what hath been said may suffice Yet there is one place relating more particularly to the action and use of the heart that I would especially note and that is in our English Bookes My heart is inditing a good matter But here as in many other places the Translation comes very short of the Original and so the whole strength of the Metaphor is lost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word is not elsewhere used in the Bible and therefore in this place greatly to be weighed it hath two significations which joyned together make up the whole work of the heart The first is fervere ebullire praeparare cibos the other is cum impetu prâ—trudere longè eructare sive pulsare the heart gives heat and motion and life unto that which is to be our nourishment and after that it doth with a certain force and vehemency cast it forth and pulse it to all even the extreamest parts that are thereby to be enlivened And this in the Letter not having been understood by Interpreters makes them come farr short also in the Mystery which is that the Doctrine of the Kingdom of Christ for that is the good thing that his heart is here inditing having not as yet had its full measure of strength and life in the World and that which it formerly had by reason of the revolution of time and circulation of Ages being much weakned and enfeebled is now again in Davids heart by the Spirit of the living God impraegnated with new vigour and thencefrom with great earnestness pulsed forth to the Generations to come even to the end to sustain and support them and to quicken them all to their duty and to a longing expectation of the Glorious Kingdom of their Lord. But to return to the Heart with the Blood We must farther know for the explication of these symptomes that there are within the body of the heart two firmly distinct cavities a right and a left usually called Ventricles from which there arise and unto which there are annexed certain peculiar vessels conducing to the ends hereafter specified Out of the right ventricle of the heart proceed the great vein called Vena Cava which sends forth branches throughout the whole body and hath at its entrance into the heart certain portals from their form called valvulae tricuspides And also that Artery anciently called vena arteriosa inserted into the lungs unto whose original are annexed the portals resembling the Greek Sigma and are therefore called valvulae sigmoideae Out of the lest Ventricle proceed that vein anciently called arteria venosa inserted in like manner into the lungs and also the great Artery called Arteria aorta which dispenseth its branches throughout the whole Body both whose Cavities are defended with the like portals with the former It remains onely that we shew how the blood and life is actuated in these parts and howit passeth in and through them and in and through the whole habit of the Body which is by way of Rotation or running the round going out from the fountain and returning thither again The Sun ariseth and the Sun goeth down and hasteth to the place where he arose The Wind goeth toward the South and turneth about unto the North it whirleth about continually and the Wind returneth again according to its Circuits All the Rivers run into the Sea yet the Sea is not full unto the place from whence the Rivers come thither they return again Thus it pleaseth the King to express the Circulations of the greater World those of the lesser are no less remarkable The Blood wherein is the Life of Man passeth about the Body continually and returns according to its circuits the streames thereof run into the fountain which is never full unto the place from whence they come thither they return again which is by the Instruments before mentioned thus performed The Vena Cava containing much blood in its cavity neer the basis of the Heart on the right side doth gently pass it into the right Ventricle of the Heart which is dilated in its Diastole for its reception and immediately thereupon contracting its self in its Systole the three pointed Portals hindering the passage back again into the Cava it must necessarily thrust the blood through the open passage of the Vena Arteriosa where the sigmoidal Portals hindering its return it must pass through the Streiner of the Lungs and so be received into the branches of the Arteria Venosa and thereby brought into the left Ventricle of the Heart where again it is with violence pulsed forth into the Aorta the Portals here as before alwayes hindering its regress by the branches of which Artery it is carried to all the parts of the Body to enliven them which work being done what remaines is received into the Capillaries of the Veines in the several parts whence it passeth of its own accord naturally towards its Center from the lesser into the greater branches of the veines and consequently at last into the great Trunk of the Cava from whence it is recommitted into the right ventricle of the Heart to be chased the Foyl This is the true Doctrine of the excellency and motion of the blood and of the use of the Heart and the parts appertaining thereunto all which were perfectly known to Solomon as will abundantly appear anon in the explication of the symptomes we are now about Yet it pleased the Lord that this knowledge should with the possessor of it sink into dust and darkness where it lay buried for the space of 2500 years at the least till it was retreived thence from by the wisdome and industry of that incomparable and for ever to be renouned Dr. William Harvey the greatest honour of our Nation and of all Societies of which he was a Member who stands and ever will do with the highest note of Honour in the Calenders both of Physicians and Philosophers and it were but justice to put him with the same eminence into that of the Church since he hath Contributed more to the understanding of this and many other places of Scripture then all that ever undertook that Charge These things being throughly weighed and well understood the two symptomes which remain to be spoken to do open themselves into the same Doctrine without any more ado By the Pitcher therefore we must understand the true and proper conceptacle of the Blood namely the Veines which throughout the whole body serve only as a vessel to contain that noble Liquor and carry it back again to the Fountain The Original word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth sometime more generally any containing vessel and so is taken for the Widows
have been still hammering at some such thing Some therefore have interpreted this place to the life of man which passeth as in a Ring according to that saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Others have interpreted it to the death of man when his compounding parts shall revert into the first beings Cedit enim retro de terra quod fuit ante In terram c. And so they make this expression explained at large in the following verse The dust shall return to the earth as it was and the spirit shall return to God that gave it Others interpret it to the reciprocal Communications between the heart and the head the heart continually sending to the head bloud and vital spirits and the head again returning them to the heart sublimed instruments of animality Lastly There are that ingeniously interpret it to Respiration which is performed by a circular motion Inspiration and Expiration continually succeeding one another in their Courses All these Archers have shot exceeding well and have hit the But while many others have shot at Rovers yet these not being able to discern the White have not touched that principal Mark. I mean the grand Circulation in mans body not being known to these ancient Commentators they have done the best that could be in the second place What this grand Circulation is and how performed hath been already described and those vessels that are inward bound which bring home the noble Travellour the encompassour of the little World were described in the Explanation of the foregoing Symbole but those which are outward bound which carry him forth with all his wealth and substance to accomplish his intended end are here intimated unto us by the Wheel That the great Artery with all its branches throughout the whole body is here principally pointed at hath been already said and may be farther confirmed first in that it answers so directly to the vein signified in the last Symptome by the Pitcher Secondly In that it is to us the most apparent Pulsor we can feel the bloud to be forced along its Cavity in the Wrists the Temples and divers other parts of the body Lastly in that it is so appositely placed at the Cock of the Cistern as you shall hear hereafter Yet we must not so limit this Wheel to the Arteries as to exclude the very substance and Parenchymous part of the heart it self For upon whatsoever Instruments the pulsifick faculty is exercising it self they are all here intended by the Wheel for they are they and they only that carry off the bloud from the fountain and force it from the Center of the body to the Circumference Water may easily be conveyed in Trunks or Pipes by its own natural tendency only unto all those places that are beneath or level with the Spring from whence it first comes but if you would have it of a farther use to serve those places that are higher than the spring you must then fetch it up with violence by a Wheel or some such Instrument of force as is to be seen in our Water-houses and all such ingenious Inventions of publick good Thus all the bloud in mans body is in certain Pipes and Trunks by its own natural tendency only brought home to the heart but it will in no wise go farther to be of a more general use to the whole body till it have some Instrument of force to compel it thence-from The Pulsifick faculty is the mover and the Instruments of Pulsation the Wheel that performs this work that is of so publick a concern to the whole The Cistern from whence this Wheel forceth that liquor which afterwards it conveyeth throughout all the parts is the left Ventricle of the heart for hereunto it is that the great Artery is annexed and from hence it doth arise A Cistern is a Vessel made on purpose to receive a due proportion of water and to contain it till the time of use and then conveniently to pass it into those other vessels that are appointed to receive it thence-from And thus the left Ventricle of the heart doth in its Diastole receive that bloud that is brought unto it by the Arteria Venosa of the Lungs and having retained it a little it doth in its Systole conveniently pass a due proportion thereof into the Aorta to be dispensed as was spoken before And this is the true and only use of the left Ventricle For the bloud being enobled and enlivened in the right Ventricle and refrigerated and cleansed from its fuliginous vapours in the Lungs it is now in all things accomplished for its ultimate use and remains only to be sent into those several parts it is to quicken which it cannot conveniently be unless it be first received into this Cistern and afterwards by the Pulsifick Faculty and Instruments be disposed of to that appointed end and we cannot but here remind those portals that are placed both at the entrance into and passage from the vessel we are now speaking of namely the Valvulae tricuspides sigmoideae which as the Cocks to let in and let out do by their opening or shutting give convenient passage or absolute stoppage to that liquor which continually runs that way It cannot but by this time be acknowledged by all those that have gone along with us and taken special notice of the aptness of these two expressions viz. The Pitcher at the Fountain and the Wheel at the Cistern to symbolize unto us the circulation of the bloud and the use and action of the heart and the parts belonging thereunto that the Doctrine which is now justly called Harvaean was at first Solomonian For as it pleased God in these latter daies to give in this certain and most useful knowledge to the industrious and indefatigable endeavours of the Learned Dr. Harvey so did he of old give in the same unto King Solomon in the lump together with all other natural knowledge as a superabundant answer to his fervent and effectual Prayer which great truth being confirmed by the powerful reasons and ocular demonstrations of the one and by this divine testimony of the other let it not be for the future in the least measure doubted or questioned but let it be greatly prized and so much the rather because while many others of great importance wherein these two Worthies doubtless agreed have perished by the way this only from them both hath escaped safe to our hands It remains now that I only name unto you that Symptome of Old Age at the time of death that is here signified unto us by the Wheel broken at the Cistern which cannot but be understood to be the ceasing of the Pulse the Instruments of Pulsation decay and can no longer perform that work which must necessarily be continued for the preservation of life It came to pass when the Lord had a purpose immediately to destroy the Host of the Aegyptians that he looked upon them and troubled them and took off their Charet
be found in the body of man And indeed all the natural alterations that tend either to the preservation of the person or propagation of the kind are the products of this intestine grinding And there is scarce a part in man especially an internal viscus that doth not particularly contribute to such a work as this And surely that which lies daily upon our trenchers had need of many through grindings that it may be really transubstantiated into our flesh these in the body of man are by Physicians called digestions or concoctions and are to be found almost in every part as was said before but I shall instance only in a few and those well known to all those that have the least skill in natural things and these few grindings together with the voice of them the doors and streets that lead to and from them being well understood those that are more accurate in the knowledge of all the alterations of the nourishment of man may thence from easily attain the whole intent and purpose of the Wise man in this part of the description of age I shall only mention five Three in respect of the Individual and two in respect of the Species and they are those common ones Chylification Sanguification Assimulation Lactification and Spermification The first of these viz. Chylification is thus performed after the meat is sufficiently chewed in the mouth it is committed to the stomack where continually there lyeth treasured up a certain acide juyce the relicts of the last Concoction which as the Leaven in the bread doth presently infect the whole mass and every part thereof and doth so penetrate and search the parts and so divide and separate them one from another and joyn it self to every one of them that at last the matter of nourishment is so perfectly ground that it is brought to a new Consistence and colour very like to the Cream of Barly and is that Physicians call the Chyle and this is the first intrinsecal grinding that the food receiveth and is next of all to that of the mouth and not altogether unlike to it and therefore when mastication is but weakly performed you heard before that it was helped by infusion of the food in a Ventricle prepared for that purpose whereby the parts were acted among themselves and better comminuated than if they had been never so long chewed in the mouth The second of these viz. Sanguification is performed when the Chyle it self is ground over again and receiving yet farther exaltations by a greater solution of the more noble and active principles it once again deposites its old colour and consistence and so at length becomes perfectly changed into that true liquor of life which is called bloud and although it must alwaies be acknowledged that the Chyle doth receive many alterations and exaltations before it come to the heart almost in every part it passeth through both in the guts themselves in the Mesentery the Glandules and the milky vessels both of one sort and of another and also in the veins and after it hath passed through the heart it must be once or twice circulated through the body and receive several defaecations as in the Liver the Spleen the Kidneys and the like before it be compleatly accomplished for its ultimate use all which exaltations and defaecations are included in this Text yet it must still be remembred that the principal and supream exaltation of the bloud the most eminent and remarkable grinding towards Sanguification in comparison of which all the others are little to be accounted of is alwaies performed in the heart that fountain of life for as soon as the Vena Cava hath committed the matter of nourishment into the right Ventricle of the heart the fermentum therein contained working suddenly and throughly upon it sets the active principles at a greater freedom and so inducing new motion and effervescence into the bloud doth happily impraegnate it with vitality And not only this new matter of nutrition when it first attingeth the heart is thereby enlivened but the best bloud it self after that by various circulations and imparting its power and life to the parts that are nourished by it it becomes weak and much depauperated is fain to return back again to the heart for a fresh impraegnation And such a vast difference there is between the bloud in the Arteries newly brisked in the fountain and that in the Veins lowered and impoverished with its journey that the Ancients took them for two several things and knew not that they were the same like the men of Bethlehem who knew not Naomi nor would acknowledge her the same person because she went out full and returned home again empty and she her self was not unwilling to have changed her name And he that shall call the rich bloud going out in the Arteries Aerial Jovial Spiritual and the mean and poor bloud returning home in the Veins Earthly Saturnal Gross shall make no Schisme at all in the unquestionable doctrine of Circulation The third of these viz. Assimulation is then performed when the nutritive juyce is sufficiently prepared in all things that are allotted to it and by the impulse of the conveying vessels is brought near to the parts that are to be nourished and then every one of the parts by a certain allective property of its own doth draw that which is most agreeable to it self and then falls to acting searching breaking it over again into most minute parts and so those that are like to prove unconformable are excommunicated to the pores and the other are taken into joynt fellowship and communion and so made one with the part and that which is most remarkable is that according to the time of life wherein augmentation or encrease of stature is appointed to man every one of the parts takes so much to it self as will answer its dayly growth and after that is accomplished every part takes only so much to it self as doth answer its dayly decay The Children of Israel gathered Manna in the wilderness some more some less yet when they did mete it in an Omer he that gathered much had nothing over and he that gathered little had no lack they gathered every man according to his eating This is truly verified in the food of all mankind Some there be that make greater preparations for the belly othersome there be that make lesser yet when this comes to the measure of God I mean to be put to that end which he hath appointed he that made the greatest hath nothing over and he that made the least hath no lack every one according to his wasting The Princes superfluities and the Beggars penury both of them make but equal reparation for the dayly Consumption of their own flesh The fourth that I mentioned was the making of the milk which although it be peculiar to one Sex only yet I cannot but take notice of it among the rest because a principal
every cursory and superficial Reader all which may also be communicated to you in a convenient season FINIS The INDEX THe Introduction from page 1 to 12 The use of the Scripture P. 1 2. the several interpretations of this place 3 the true 4 the names of age 5 the bounds 6 7. the Analysis 9 the onely Panacea 10. Vers 1. From page 12 to 23 the exhortation p. 12 the general diseases and inleâ—s to all the rest 13 the certainty of this state 13 14 the continuation 15 how evill dayes are to be understood 15 16 17. what old Age is called good 18 how pleasure is to be understood 21 incredible in Age ib. Vers 2. From Page 23 to 54 the several interpretations of this Verse p. 23 24 the proper 26 the union of the Soul and Body ib. their communion 27 the inward Man which doth not decay 29 30 the sun or rational faculty superiour 31 the difference between soul and spirit 32 33 the light or rationâ— faculty inferiour 30 the speculative operations ib the practical 37 Solomons declension 38 the Wiâ—â— 39 the Moon or sensitive faculty 40 its operations 41 the common sense and phansie the same faculty 42 the Stars or the Species in the memory 45 not onely of the phansie but of the understanding 46 the use of this faculty 4â— 48 the diseases 49 Clouds after Rain i. e. one misery after another 50 51 notwithstanding what nature can do 52 or art 53. V. 3. From page the 54 to 101 the Body compared to an House p. 55 the keepers of the house not the Thorax but the Hands 56 how they keep the house 57 58 the bones 59 60 the thumb 61 the muscles 61 62 the diseases 63 the causes of them 63 64 the strong Men or the Feet 65 66 67. their likeness to the keepers of the house 69 the femur 70 the Patella 71 the conjunction of the fibula 72 the variety of the flexures of the hands and feet 73 the muscles 73 74 the diseases 75 the grinders the jaw-bones 76 77 the teeth several wayes fitted for grinding 77 78 79 the division of them 80 the reasons why the great and broad teeth are most properly the grinders 81 82 Creatures that have teeth onely on one jaw and how that want is supplied 83 84 the diseases 85 how the Eyes may be called the lookers out of the Windowes 86 the pellucide parts 87 the humours ib. the tunicles 88 the use of the tunica cornea 90 the visible species ib. how vision is made 91 the holes 92 the orbitae 93 the palpebrae or eye-lids 94 the Iris or party-coloured part of the eye 95 the pupilla or apple of the eye 96 the optick nerve 97 the diseases 99 100. V. 4. From page 101 to 150 The connexion p. 101 the cause of former Interpreters mistake upon this Verse p. 102 103 a double grinding 104 why fermentation is called grinding 104 105 Chylification 106 Sanguification 107 108 Assimulation 109 110 Lâ—ctification 111 Spermification 112 the Grinding of Samson 114 115 the sound of the Grinding 116 117 the lowness thereof or the diseases 118 the doores 119 the fore-doores 120 the back-doores 121 the intermediate doores 122 123 the Streets 124 the shutting of the doores or the diseases 125 the voice of the bird 126 127 the diseases 129 how both sleep and waking may be accounted infirmities of Age 130 131 why Age is defined morbus naturalis 133 the active Daughters of Musick ib. the lungs 134 135 the Organs of Speech 136 the Aspera Arteria ib. the Tongue 137 the Pallate 138 139 theTeeth 140 the Lips ib. the Organs of Singing 141 the Larynx ib. the Glottis 142 the passive Daughters of Musick 143 144 the outward Ear 145 the Elices ib. the inward Ear 147 how hearing is performed 148 the diseases 149 150. Vers 5. From page 150 to 202 The Connection p. 150 151 the Passions of the Mind 152 fear 153 its attendants and causes 154 155 its consequences 156 the fearfulness of Jacob and Eli 157 the objects of Old Mens fear 158 high things ib. plain and easie things 159 the division of the parts of the Body 160 the Almond Tree or Hoary Head 161 which agree in colour 162 in hastiness 163 in eminency 164 in diagnosticks 165 in Prâ—gnosticks 167 Canities 169 the Grashopper shall be a burden or rather shall grow or shew big and burdensome 170 the mistake of former Interpreters 171 how removed 172 the division of the animate parts 173 the Grashopper resembleth the bones 175 and their protuberancies 176 chiefly the Vertebrae of the spine 177 the other spermatical parts and the skin 179 the diseases 180 defire shall fail or rather the Capers shall shrink 181 the reasons for this Interpretation 182 183 the diseases 184 the blood and humours and entrails 185 the Glandules 186 the Muscles 186 187 long home implying secrecy 189 long duration 191 eternity 192 that interrogation if a Man die shall he live again intends the Negative 193 194 195 the Resâ—rrection 196 the Mourning at the Funeral 197 no cause of it in respect of the dead 198 199 but of the living 200. Vers 6. From page 202 to 249 the Connection p. 202 203 the Cord 204 205 the instrument of sense and motion after it hath proceeded out of the scull 206 why expressed in the singular number 207 it is called the Silver Cord from its colour and place 208 from its excellency 209 210 the loosning of the Cord 211 the symptome of death here intended 212 the bowl 213 the contained parts of the Head ib. the containing parts 215 external 216 internal 216 217 the Pia mater principally here intended 218 why called the Golden Bowl 219 220 221 the symptome of death here intended 222 how an Apoplex may be reckoned both as a disease of Age and a symptome of Death 223 224 why this part of the Allegory could never be understood formerly 226 wherein the life of Man consists 227 the use of the heart 228 229 230 its vessels 231 the Circulation of the blood how performed 232 233 the Pitcher or the Veines 234 235 the fountain or right Ventricle of the heart 236 237 the symptome of death here intended 238 239 the wheel is the in strument of circulation 240 241 242 the Cistern or left Ventricle of the Heart 243 the agreement of King Solomon and Dr. Harvey 245 the symptome of Death here intended 246 the summ of all the diseases 248. The Conclusion from page 249 to the end Solomons Systeme to be compared with others p. 249 the Scripture light the best in natural things 250 its excellency 251 252 the Vindication of Physicians 253 254 Natural things lead to Divine 255 the inducement to study the Scripture 257 and the Gerocomical part of Physick 257 258 what cures in respect of Age are already found out 259 what are wanting 260 the retarding of Age 261 the prolonging of life 261 262 the